Deicide, one of the forefathers of the Death Metal genre. Hailing from good ol' Florida, Death Metal capital of the world. Originally formed in 1987 under the name Carnage, they released 2 demos; Feasting the Beast in 1987 and Sacrificial in 1989. Focusing on almost only Anti-Semitic and Satanic lyrics, Deicide would become world renowned by controversy surrounding their lyrics. However, this wouldn't ever stop Glen Benton form delivering his blasphemous tunes.
Deicide is:
Glen Benton- Bass, Vocals
Brian Hoffman- Guitar
Eric Hoffman- Guitar
Steve Asheim- Drums
The self-titled first effort by Deicide would surely go down in history as being a huge addition to the Death Metal World along with Possessed's 7 Churches and Death's Scream Bloody Gore. This album is not to be taken lightly.
1.
Lunatic of God's Creation- (5/5) The fresh opener for this groundbreaking album from Deicide. Automatically starts out with a really cool guitar line delivered from the brothers Hoffman. The double bass in this song really stands out because it is used ALOT. The vocals are pretty demonic sounding coming from self proclaimed Satanist himself, Glen Benton. A steady pace is raging throughout this song. Goes back to the intro riff a few times and definitely makes use of the Hoffman’s guitar abilities. One of the best songs on here.
2.
Sacrificial Suicide- (3.5/5) This song was all about how Glen Benton, claiming to be the "Anti-Christ" was going to commit suicide at age 33 to mirror those of Jesus Christ, but surprise, surprise, he didn't. Anyway, this song is all right. The lyrics suck and I mean that. The usual " Satan is in my soul, Satan is in my Bowels" sort of thing. Starts of slower but speeds up throughout the song. Just and all right track if you ask me.
3.
Oblivious to Evil- (4/5) Has a lot of the same style drumming with a real bass drum heavy sound. Has the albums first solo from the Hoffman Boys. The usual speedy lick up and down the neck, nothing too special. Stops to give a cool guitar line and you are thrown right back into a whirlwind of heavy riffs. Has somewhat of the sound and groove that Sacrificial Suicide had, minus the ridiculous lyrics.
4.
Dead By Dawn- (5/5) Best song on the album. This is where Steve Asheim really earns his wings as a drummer with ridiculously fast bass drumming. Glen Benton also delivers a fine show with some kind of a "lion's roar" sound, but also shows his skill as a death grunter. I really love the bridge into the final part of the song where the riff totally changes into a bone crushing line and immediately goes into shouts of "Dead by dawn". Great song.
5.
Blaspherereion- (3/5) Starts out with a cool guitar part, but that's pretty much all this song has going for it. Its pretty much a usual Death Metal song, with the blast beats raging and the short rasps of Benton. Don't get me wrong, I like this song, but I think that they could have made much more of a memorable song out of it than they did. But one thing I do like is its pace at the end of the song. As you all know, I am very much a fan of slower paced Death Metal songs, so this part suits me a little more and saves this song from lower than a 3.
6.
Deicide- (4.5/5) A cool intro to this one gives it a whole new twist with stop and starts and straight into "chuggah chuggah" riffs. The vocals in this song really standout well. More great drumming along with some Slayer-ish Reign in Blood types of riffs. Vocals are very nice, as I said before. Just as you get to about 2:20, we get a sick and I mean SICK Bridge. This one will hurt you. Bash your brain and find time to rape it somewhere along the way. Great song, just not perfect.
7.
Carnage In the Temple of the Damned- (4/5) I have no clue what the sample at the beginning of this one is, but that's ok. Nice intro riffs to get you accustomed to what this song will be like. Demonic vocals plague or bless this song, depending on your vocal pleasures. A nice groove throughout this song. Another brilliant performance for Glen Benton, while we have another sucky solo, from the Hoffman 1...or is it Hoffman 2? I really think that these guys make better riffers than Soloers, but the solo does fit nicely I must say. Another good song.
8.
Mephistopheles- (4/5) If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Mephistopheles mean Satan? This song has a really great intro with a lot of Crash Symbol that adds to the wall of sound hitting you like a Truck at 75 MPH. Speedy delivery by Glen on this one. One of the slower paced songs on this album. Has a little bit of Grind influence with the drumming style and such. A different approach to Death Metal from 1990. A standout track to say the least.
9.
Day of Darkness- (4.5/5) Another near perfect song. The last excellent song on here. The intro has some cool drum fills accompanied by Glen doing some decipherable shouting. I like this song a lot for some reason. I can’t really place weather it’s the Vocals, Guitar, Drums, whatever. It’s just really a good, original song. A lot of cool noises too.
10.
Crucifixation- (3/5) A standard Death Metal song. Along with some cool fills, really isn't a monster of a track. Good mini-solos for once though. The "Black Goat" of this album in the fact that it isn't a stick-in-your-mind-and-kill-you track. Still, nothing to sneeze at.
Overall, this album was a huge milestone in Death Metal's bloody and complicated past. It was really the start of brutal vocals that tore the Vocalists throat to shreds. Another thing this album did was show controversy to the scene, with murders that were blamed on the lyrics and ritual killings that have been "traced" back to this music. All I have to say about that is BS.
Key Tracks:
Dead By Dawn
Lunatic of God's Creation
Mephistopheles
Pros[+]:
Sick Vocals
Drumming was top notch
Guitarist's really put their all into this
Cons[-]:
Lyrics about Satan get old, fast
Some recycled riffs
Bass was somewhat absent for the most part
